A photographer on assignment in 1973, Jon Naar captured hundreds of images of graffiti during two weeks in New York City, knowing little about the subculture that spawned it but managing to catch the urban art and protest form as it grew out of its infancy. His landmark 1974 book The Faith of Graffiti, with an introduction by Norman Mailer, presented a few more than 40 of these photos, and had an immediate and lasting effect on the movement. The Birth of Graffiti returns to that long-ago photo file, presenting 155 images from Naar's archives—most previously unpublished—that form a remarkable time capsule of a highly ephemeral expressive form.